AUTONEWS

INTELLIGENT SUSPENSION MAKES CAR JUMPING OBSTACLES

With a brilliant mind, the founder of the hi-fi systems company by his name, Amar Bose, did not just work on sound alone. On the contrary, it even created a revolutionary system of magnetic suspensions, inspired by the loudspeakers, that never got to commercialize. The technology was now acquired by an American company, ClearMotion Inc., which intends to finally put it on the market. But let's go in parts, this story is not from now on.Amar Bose was bitter about the poor performance of his car suspensions. The man had a 1957 Pontiac, whose air suspensions did not work at all well, and a 1967 Citroën, which one and a half freed a little oil from the hydraulic suspensions. It was there that Bose thought the best solution was to pick up the magnets and the electromagnetic coils from the speakers and create a suspension that would work like a magic carpet.In 1980, the sound specialist devised the mathematical model for the suspension, but needed better electromagnetic motors, amplifiers, and processing power, a need that was not yet available at the time. Not to mention that one thing is to push in and out the light membrane of a loudspeaker, another quite distinct is to push up and down a car with more than a ton ...

In 2004 was the general surprise: even jumped...To escape the scrutiny of the finance department, Bose evolved his idea under the name Project Sound.When he was convinced of the added value of his solution, the engineer decided to hold a publicly-tested video test session to make the potential of his technology clear. Side by side, a Porsche 911 and a Lexus LS400, with and without Bose suspensions.

It was shown that, as promised by the sound engineer, its suspensions (with a lot of loudspeakers) did not allow the car to tilt in a curve, not to get in the brakes and, much less, to lift the front under a stronger acceleration.
As if this were not enough, the Bose solution still allowed to absorb any hole or lump as if it did not exist, turning the car into such a magic carpet that Amar Bose always imagined. For anyone who had doubts about the boldness of the system, or the creativity of the "father" of the idea, Bose endowed the models with the ability to jump to avoid a hurdle crossing the road. With the approach of a railroad track, the system began by flexing the suspensions (which had a 20-cm course), lowering the car, and then shooting so suddenly the electromagnetic motors (one per wheel), which led the car to jump. Literally.

Shiny idea or failure?
Although it was considered revolutionary, this sophisticated technology never came to be commercialized. Because?Essentially, there were two reasons that pushed away the various manufacturers who had held meetings with Bose from the purchase of "magic carpet" suspensions. One was the price, because the technological solution needed a few more years until more efficient, more powerful, faster and, above all, cheaper linear engines appeared to reduce the cost per suspension. In other words, it appeared too soon.Although the fact that it was "premature" had been a problem, that was not why the doors were closed for the suspensions proposed by Bose, who could still equip the top-of-the-range versions of the more expensive models, similar to what happened with pneumatic suspensions or even hydraulic ones - an exception made for Citroën, whose inventive spirit reminds us of Amar Bose.